How to write a successful IF proposal? two success stories
Introducing ourselves Dr. Gabriella Eriksson Marie Curie Research Fellow Centre for Decision Research Dr. Natalie van der Wal Marie Curie Research Fellow Centre for Decision Research
Why write a Marie Curie proposal? International experience Interdisciplinary research Career development Fund dream research with dream team Receive recognition
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
1. Apply expertise to real-world problem For funders, real-world relevance of your research may be at least as important as its theoretical contribution Start your grant proposal with the importance of the realworld problem, citing Official statistics on lives or money lost etc. Policy goals for tackling the problem as posted by UK, EU, or other international organisations Argue why your research is needed to solve the problem
1. Apply expertise to real-world problem 1. Gabriella uses behavioural decision research to understanding why drivers speed, so as to ultimately improve road safety and save lives 2. Natalie will improve emergency evacuations by applying risk communication research and agent-based modeling
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
2. Involve a project partner Project partners are organisations tasked with solving your real-world problem Saying that you will share findings at the end is not enough Involving project partners from the start increases chances of relevance and impact Contact project partners via others or cold Highlight the opportunities you offer, and what you ask, with room for adjustment Ask for letter of support
2. Involve a project partner 1. Natalie involved emergency responders and a crowd movement consultancy company in her EU project on emergency evacuations 2. Gabriella involved Volvo Cars and various transport agencies in her EU project about speeding risks
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines Most real-world problems cannot be resolved by one narrow discipline Interdisciplinary research is often seen as better and more innovative Bring together the best team Even if you can t cover time, colleagues may still welcome the opportunity
3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines 1. Gabriella involved someone from Transport Studies, who then introduced other Leeds colleagues 2. Natalie involved Leeds and UK colleagues from geography and crowd science
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
4. Propose limited set of research questions (RQs) Max 3-4 RQs is enough for 2-3 year project >4 RQs makes proposal seem unfocused unfeasible within timeline and budget It will be hard enough to describe all relevant detail for each RQ within page limit Literature review and motivation Methods Expected findings and outputs
4. Propose limited set of research questions (RQs) 1. Natalie: 3 RQs over 2 years 2. Gabriella: 3 RQs over 2 years
Tips 1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. 1 6
5. Create a budget research office will help with budget But needs to be contacted early Having a budget will force you to be specific about all activities for RQs Number of participants for each study Travel for research, meetings and conferences Plan for the best and see if you can afford it Overestimate Planning fallacy suggests that activities cost more (and take longer) than we predict
5. Create a budget 1. Gabriella: don t make promises you can t keep. 2. Natalie: make contingency plans and find out what you can do within your budget.
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
6. Explicitly address all criteria Funding call will list criteria Reviewers will be asked to rate proposals on the basis of those criteria If reviewers can t find where you address criteria, you will get a low score So, make reviewers job easy Use headers referring to criteria State explicitly this proposals is innovative because. for all criteria Do not hesitate to repeat across sections
6. Explicitly address all criteria 1. Natalie: In every section of my proposal, I repeated how each of the funding criteria was addressed 2. Gabriella: make sure it is easy for the reviewer to spot the criteria.
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
7. Write in clear language Reviewers may not be in your field Simple language is understood and liked more by readers at all levels Readability recommendations Avoid jargon Replace words of more than 3 syllables with shorter synonyms (eg test vs examine, plan vs propose) Shorten sentences to max of 2 clauses Technical writing recommendation Show instead of tell
7. Write in clear language 1. Gabriella: make short sentences and ask for feedback. 2. Natalie: show and tell.
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
8. Seek lots of feedback Even if you follow all recommendations, parts of proposal may be unclear Ask many people to read your text Collaborators and project partners LUBS research office Other colleagues Do not ask them all to look at the same version but plan for multiple rounds of feedback and revision Natalie: Take a growth mindset
8. Seek lots of feedback 1. Natalie: Take a growth mindset. 2. Gabriella: get in touch with the EU funding team at University of Leeds.
1. Apply your expertise to solving a real-world problem. 2. Involve relevant project partners. 3. Involve colleagues from other relevant disciplines. 4. Propose a limited set of research questions. 5. Create a budget before you start writing. 6. Explicitly address all of the funder s criteria. 7. Write the proposal in clear language. 8. Seek lots of feedback. 9. Don t give up. Tips
9. Don t give up Many projects were not funded on the first try If rejected, use reviewers comments to further improve Even if a proposal never gets funded, you will have generated new research ideas and brought together a team that might want to carry them out
9. Don t give up 1. Gabriella: Funded on 2 nd try 2. Natalie: Funded on 1 st try
Questions and feedback? Dr. Gabriella Eriksson G.Eriksson@leeds.ac.uk EU H2020 Grant 706553 Dr. Natalie van der Wal C.N.VanderWal@leeds.ac.uk EU H2020 Grant 748647